The present invention relates to an improved apparatus for filling caulking tubes and more particularly the present invention relates to an improved apparatus for filling caulking tubes where the liquid viscous composition such as a one-component room temperature vulcanizalbe silicone rubber composition does not drip on the caulking tubes.
Caulking tubes are well known. Such caulking tubes generally comprise a cylinder to which is fitted a protruding nozzle and on the back end of the cylinder there is a cap or plunger part. When it is desired to utilize the caulking tube, the tip of the nozzle of the caulking tube is cut and the caulking tube is put in a plunger gun such that the piston on the gun pushes on the plunger on the rear end of the cylinder and forces the material in the caulking tube outside of the caulking tube. Such caulking tubes are usually used to package materials which it is desired to prevent from contact with moisture or to protect from the weather or the elements prior to use. As can be envisioned in a large manufacturing establishment, it would be tedious and time consuming to fill such caulking tubes with the desired composition by hand. Accordingly, there has been developed different types of machinery for filling such caulking tubes automatically.
Such machinery for filling caulking tubes automatically generally comprises a drive means which drives a conveyor belt on which are located the empty caulking tubes. Drive means also drives linkages which further drives a feeding arrangement at the upper portion of the frame of the machine. The composition or liquid viscous composition is located in reservoirs on the top of the frame of the machine and is fed by pressure into the cavities in a shaft means which rotates in a block means. These compositions are then forced by a suction effect into a piston and cylinder means adjacent to the block and core or shaft means. The piston moves in the cylinder by the desired amount of travel so that a measured quantity of material is inserted into the cylinder. With the desired drive means the shaft with cavities is then rotated such that the cavities are presented in a slightly different direction and the piston is activated such that the measured amount of material in the cylinder is forced by the piston to the cavities in the shaft means through passage tubes down into the empty caulking tubes.
As can be appreciated, the piston and cylinder means through which the material passes, as well as the shaft and block means and specifically the rotation of the shaft means, as well as the synchronization of the caulking tubes, is carried out in the apparatus by appropriate drive and linkage means such that everything is in timed relation with respect to the movement of the different components that were mentioned above.
There was some disadvantages in such prior art machines. One disadvantage is that once the measured amount of material passed into the caulking tube and the caulking tube was filled to the desired height, the material would still leak out of the passage tube and would fall about the sides of the caulking tube or on the conveyor belt, thus creating a very dirty appearance in the apparatus. However, more importantly, amounts of the composition would fall on the caulking tubes and would create a dirty and unsightly appearance on the caulking tubes. As can be appreciated, in the case where a low viscosity composition was being utilized to fill the caulking tubes, this problem was even more widely evidenced. However, even with liquid viscous compositions this dripping effect was quite pronounced.
Accordingly, it was common in the past in such apparatus for automatically filled caulking tubes to have a clean up team of people who would take each caulking tube and wipe it clean before it was packaged, since a dirty caulking tube would create an unsightly appearance and would not be bought by the consumer and would thus have to be sold at a discount or thrown away.
Accordingly, as stated previously, it was common in the prior art caulking tube filling machines, especially with the filling of low viscosity compositions, that there be a clean up crew for cleaning the caulking tubes and for cleaning the apparatus from the dripping of composition from the passage tubes that filled the caulking tubes. Such clean up crews resulted in undesired manual labor being present in the automatic caulking tube filling operation, thus creating undesirable costs in what was essentially an automated operation.
It should be noted that while the instant invention is further directed to a caulking tube machine for filling caulking tubes with silicone compositions, that the improved caulking tube filling machine of the instant invention could be utilized to fill caulking tubes with other compositions such as, butanol, petroleum compounds, honey (in jars), putty and mayonnaise (in jars).
Accordingly, as should be noted, this phenomenon of the material dripping from the passage tubes onto the caulking tubes and onto the conveyor belt of the apparatus thus creating a clean up problem was evidenced not only in the packaging of silicone compositions but also in the packaging of the other compositions disclosed above, as well as other compositions which have not been specified above since such different compositions are too numerous to mention.
Accordingly, it was highly desirable to develop a means in a caulking tube apparatus for eliminating such dripping or dirtying of the caulking tubes by material dripping from the passage tube onto the caulking tube or the conveyor belt or other parts of the machinery.
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provided for improvement in an apparatus for filling caulking tubes where the improvement results in elimination of dripping of the material being filled in the caulking tube.
It is another object of the present invention to provide for an improved caulking tube filling machine where a means is provided to prevent the material from dripping onto the caulking tubes.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide for an improved caulking tube filling machine which fills the caulking tubes in a clean manner.
This and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by means of the apparatus disclosed in the foregoing figures.